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A set of 20 diverse accessions of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.), exhibited wide range of variability for qualitative and quantitative traits. The seed oil content ranged from 18.6 % (IC446598) to 28.0 % (IC446592). The fatty acid composition of bottle gourd seed oil also varied. Days to 50% flowering and peduncle length had significant positive correlation with seed oil content, whereas inter nodal length had significant negative correlation. The intermodal length and number of primary branches per plant had high positive direct effect on fruit yield per plant. Based on the traits, the accessions clustered into three distinct clusters. The diversity may be exploited for crop improvement and the potential of bottle gourd as edible oil source further explored.

Insula damage results in substantial impairments in facial emotion recognition. In particular, left hemispheric damage appears to be associated with poorer recognition of aversively rated facial expressions. Functional imaging can provide information on differences in the processing of these stimuli in patients with insula lesions when compared to healthy matched controls (HCs). We therefore investigated 17 patients with insula lesions in the chronic stage following stroke and 13 HCs using a passive-viewing task with pictures of facial expressions testing the blood oxygenation dependent (BOLD) effect in predefined regions of interest (ROIs). We expected a decrease in functional activation in an area modulating emotional response (left ventral striatum) but not in the facial recognition areas in the left inferior fusiform gyrus. Quantification of BOLD-response in ROIs but also voxel-based statistics confirmed this hypothesis. The voxel-based analysis demonstrated that the decrease in BOLD in the left ventral striatum was driven by left hemispheric damaged patients (n = 10). In our patient group, insula activation was strongly associated with the intensity rating of facial expressions. In conclusion, the combination of performance testing and functional imaging in patients following circumscribed brain damage is a challenging method for understanding emotion processing in the human brain., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 K. et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Training the old-age home staff is essential in raising geriatric mental health care standards in India. Inadequate knowledge on ageing and psychosocial interventions is a significant issue in old-age homes. Old-age home staff must know how to provide individualized psychosocial care and support for older adults. Hence this study aimed to test the feasibility of the psychosocial care training program for the staff working in old-age homes., Methods: A quasi-experimental research design (pre-post without a control group) was used. Forty-two staff members participated. Mary Starke Harper Aging Knowledge Exam (MSHAKE) and structured checklist to measure the staff's knowledge on ageing, psychosocial interventions, welfare legislations, schemes, and support services were administered before, immediately after, and two months after the program and the self-efficacy checklist was administered immediately and two months after the program, to examine the efficacy of the program., Results: Significant improvement was found in the ageing knowledge and the knowledge of psychosocial intervention and psychosocial care. These improvements continued for two months ( p < .001). Similarly, their self-efficacy in managing such problems was also sustained across two post-measurements ( p = .045)., Conclusions: Face-to-face training programs would enhance the knowledge of the old age home staff. This Psychosocial Care Training module can be used for training old age home staff to address various psychosocial needs, concerns and other psychosocial problems of the residents., Competing Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Background and Purpose: The insula has important functions in monitoring and integrating physiological responses to a personal experience of multimodal input. The experience of chills in response to auditory stimuli is an important example for a relevant arousing experience coupled with bodily response. A group study about altered chill experiences in patients with insula lesions is lacking., Methods: Twenty-eight stroke patients with predominantly insula lesions in the chronic stage and 14 age-matched controls were investigated using chill stimuli of both valences (music, harsh sounds). Group differences were analyzed in subjective chill reports, associated bodily responses (skin conductance response), lesion mapping, diffusion-weighted imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Other neuropsychological deficits were excluded by comprehensive testing. Diffusion-weighted imaging was quantified for four insula tracts using fractional anisotropy., Results: The frequency of chill experiences was comparable between participant groups. However, bodily responses were decreased for the stroke group. Whereas there was no association of lesion location, a positive association was found for the skin conductance response during aversive sounds and the tract connecting anterior inferior insula and left temporal pole in the stroke group. Similarly, functional magnetic resonance imaging activation in areas hypothesized to compensate for damage was increased with bodily response., Conclusions: A decoupling of felt arousal and bodily response after insula lesion was observed. Impaired bodily response was related to an impaired interaction of the left anterior insula and the temporal pole., (© 2023 The Authors. European Journal of Neurology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Neurology.)

Though often used in cardiac intensive monitoring set up, simultaneous evaluation of several variables like CVP, PCWP, SVV and hTEE for fluid volume resuscitation (especially when capillary permeability is major problem than cardiac performance) is a major challenge in many ICU setups. Therefore, repetitive determination of blood volume by trivalent chromium [ 51 Cr (III)] as a direct single variable method may be a near ideal method during fluid volume resuscitation in cases where capillary permeability is a major problem (e.g. Burns). Hence, in the present article the repeatability and reliability of 51 Cr (III) method in New Zealand white rabbits was explored. Mean blood volume values of initial measurement were 195.66 ± 47.30 ml or 89.81 ± 17.88 ml/kg body weight. Repeated mean blood volume values, measured after 1 h, was 181.98 ± 53.16 ml or 83.68 ± 22.09 ml/kg body weight. The average difference between the initial and repeated measurements was 10.93 ml (95% CI -3.33, 25.19 ml), which is not statistically significant (P = 0.128). The method using 51 Cr (III) for repeat blood volume measurements after sixty minutes in rabbits is a reliable method. •Rapid•Repeatable•Reliable.

Genus Parapenaeopsis constitute an important fishery resource in Indian waters. Parapenaeopsis stylifera, being morphologically very similar to Parapenaeopsis coromandelica, mainly differentiated using telsonic armature and it is subject of controversy regarding the number of armature for the species. The present study was aimed to resolve the taxonomic ambiguity between P. stylifera and P. coromandelica and to study phylogenetic relationship among five species under the genus Parapenaeopsis using partial sequences of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) genes. Sequence analysis revealed an average genetic divergence value ranging from 7.65 to 20.3% for COI gene and 2.4 to 12.0% for 16S rDNA gene between five species under study. The result shows that P. stylifera and P. coromandelica Alcock, 1906 are genetically a distinct species with average divergence value of 7.6% based on COI sequence and 2.4% based on the 16S rDNA. However, systematic relationship between the P. stylifera and P. coromandelica were closer than other species, thus formed separate clade in phylogenetic tree. The species specific molecular signatures developed in the present study will be helpful in effective fisheries management of the species in Indian waters.

Context: Mouth rinses have been in use from time immemorial as a supplement for routine oral hygiene. There are many number of mouth rinses currently available in the market in which many of them possess certain drawback, which has necessitated the search for alternate mouth rinses., Aim: The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of rinsing with green tea in comparison with chlorhexidine and plain water on Streptococcus mutans count., Setting and Design: A short term, single blinded, cross over randomised control clinical trial., Materials and Methods: Study includes a total of 30 subjects aged 20 to 25 years divided into three groups that is green tea group, chlorhexidine group, and plain water group. A baseline plaque samples were collected and under supervision of examiner all the subjects rinsed with 10 ml of respective solutions for one minute. Plaque samples were collected at five minutes after rinsing. All the 30 subjects were exposed to all the three rinses with a wash out period of seven days between the interventions. All the samples were sent to microbial analysis., Results: Wilcoxon matched pair test and Mann-Whitney U test showed that both chlorhexidine and green tea significantly reduced Streptococcus mutans colony counts compared to plain water., Conclusion: The results of present study indicate that green tea mouth rinse proved to be equally effective compared to chlorhexidine which is considered as gold standard. This may also be a valuable public health intervention as it is economical and has multiple health benefits.

Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OPD) is a challenging and relatively common condition in children. Both developmentally normal and delayed children may be affected. The etiology of OPD is frequently multifactorial with neurologic, inflammatory, and anatomic conditions contributing to discoordination of the pharyngeal phase of swallowing. Depending on the severity and source, OPD may persist for several years with significant burden to a patient's health and family. This article details current understanding of the mechanism and potential sources of OPD in children while providing an algorithm for managing it in the acute and chronic setting., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Supraglottoplasty (SGP) failure is frequently attributed to coexistent medical comorbidities, but studies specifically evaluating outcomes in these populations are lacking., Objective: To assess SGP outcomes in patients with neurologic and syndromic comorbidities and severe laryngomalacia (LM)., Design, Setting, and Participants: Case series with retrospective review of medical records of 54 patients with neurologic and/or syndromic comorbidity and severe LM who underwent SGP between 2004 and 2012 at a tertiary care pediatric institution., Interventions: Patients presented with severe LM that required SGP. Supraglottoplasty failure necessitated revision SGP, tracheostomy, or gastrostomy tube insertion, or LM and obstructive sleep apnea that required assisted ventilation (continuous positive airway pressure and bilevel positive airway pressure)., Main Outcomes and Measures: Medical records were reviewed with a focus on patient factors, surgical timing, complications, and surgical and dysphagia outcomes. Patients were grouped based on their age at the time of SGP as infants (aged ≤12 months) and children (aged >12 months). Statistical comparisons were performed with SGP outcomes of infants with LM and no comorbidities., Results: Fifty-four patients met the inclusion criteria. Thirty-one (13 infants, 18 children) had a neurologic condition and 23 (15 infants, 8 children) had syndromes. The overall success rate of SGP was 67% (36 of 54) in these populations. Neurologic (P = .003) and syndromic (P < .001) comorbidities were associated with significant reduction in SGP success rates vs no comorbidities. Among SGP failures (18 of 54 [33%]), 13% (7 of 54) required tracheostomy, 9% (5 of 54) needed assisted ventilation, 7% (4 of 54) required a postoperative gastrostomy tube, and 4% (2 of 54) required revision SGP. In the neurologic comorbidities group, patients with cerebral palsy had significantly higher tracheostomy rates compared with those who had other neurologic pathologies constituting comorbidities (2 of 11 [18%] vs 0 of 20; P = .049). In infants, acute airway obstruction was the most common indication for SGP in the neurologically comorbidity and syndrome populations (success rates, 69% and 67%, respectively). In children, obstructive sleep apnea was the most common indication for SGP in the neurologic comorbidity and syndrome populations (success rates, 78% and 50%, respectively)., Conclusions and Relevance: Supraglottoplasty remains useful and outcomes were better in patients with neurologic comorbidity than in patients with syndromic comorbidity.

Purpose: Prematurity is thought to be to be an independent risk factor for supraglottoplasty (SGP) failure. The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of supraglottoplasty in premature infants with congenital laryngomalacia (LM) with that of term infants., Study Design: Case series with chart review., Setting: Tertiary-care pediatric institution., Methods: Analysis was performed on 325 consecutive patients undergoing SGP between 2004 and 2012. Patients older than 12 months age or with syndrome, neurologic, or cardiac comorbidities were excluded. Resolution of airway symptoms after SGP was considered successful while revision SGP and tracheostomy were considered failures. The rates of secondary airway lesions (SAL), dysphagia, and gastrostomy tube (GT) placement were also compared., Results: A total of 176 infants (136 term, 40 preterm) were identified. SGP was successful in 92.7% term and 90% preterm infants with no significant difference (P = .5865). Incidence of revision SGP and tracheostomy was similar among the groups. The outcomes of SGP were the same in all groups stratified by age. Incidence of SAL was significantly higher in preterm (72.5%) compared to term infants (34.6%, P = .0002). Dysphagia rates in the follow-up were higher in preterm (32.5%) versus term infants (6.6%, P < .001). The rate of GT insertion was significantly greater (P = .003) in preterm (27.5%) than term infants (6.6%). The preoperative dysphagia, persistent dysphagia, and GT in follow-up was significantly higher when gestation age <32 weeks (25%, P = .0168)., Conclusion: Supraglottoplasty outcomes in term and preterm infants were similar irrespective of gestation age. Higher rates of dysphagia in follow-up are seen when gestation age <32 weeks.

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) in young children is frequently characterized by a recalcitrant course and need for multiple surgeries. Periodic surgical debulking and ablation is the mainstay of therapy as a cure for RRP rarely occurs. Benefits of adjuvant treatment with local injection of cidofovir in aggressive cases of RRP have been reported in both children and adults. However, a consensus on initiation, dosage, or scheduling of this drug has not been established in the very young patient. Literature on successful remission in children less than 1 year of age is not available. One such case of an infant with aggressive RRP treated with local adjuvant cidofovir is described herein., (Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.)

The prominent attributes of foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) including its small genome size, short life cycle, inbreeding nature, and phylogenetic proximity to various biofuel crops have made this crop an excellent model system to investigate various aspects of architectural, evolutionary and physiological significances in Panicoid bioenergy grasses. After release of its whole genome sequence, large-scale genomic resources in terms of molecular markers were generated for the improvement of both foxtail millet and its related species. Hence it is now essential to congregate, curate and make available these genomic resources for the benefit of researchers and breeders working towards crop improvement. In view of this, we have constructed the Foxtail millet Marker Database (FmMDb; http://www.nipgr.res.in/foxtail.html), a comprehensive online database for information retrieval, visualization and management of large-scale marker datasets with unrestricted public access. FmMDb is the first database which provides complete marker information to the plant science community attempting to produce elite cultivars of millet and bioenergy grass species, thus addressing global food insecurity.

The NAC proteins represent a major plant-specific transcription factor family that has established enormously diverse roles in various plant processes. Aided by the availability of complete genomes, several members of this family have been identified in Arabidopsis, rice, soybean and poplar. However, no comprehensive investigation has been presented for the recently sequenced, naturally stress tolerant crop, Setaria italica (foxtail millet) that is famed as a model crop for bioenergy research. In this study, we identified 147 putative NAC domain-encoding genes from foxtail millet by systematic sequence analysis and physically mapped them onto nine chromosomes. Genomic organization suggested that inter-chromosomal duplications may have been responsible for expansion of this gene family in foxtail millet. Phylogenetically, they were arranged into 11 distinct sub-families (I-XI), with duplicated genes fitting into one cluster and possessing conserved motif compositions. Comparative mapping with other grass species revealed some orthologous relationships and chromosomal rearrangements including duplication, inversion and deletion of genes. The evolutionary significance as duplication and divergence of NAC genes based on their amino acid substitution rates was understood. Expression profiling against various stresses and phytohormones provides novel insights into specific and/or overlapping expression patterns of SiNAC genes, which may be responsible for functional divergence among individual members in this crop. Further, we performed structure modeling and molecular simulation of a stress-responsive protein, SiNAC128, proffering an initial framework for understanding its molecular function. Taken together, this genome-wide identification and expression profiling unlocks new avenues for systematic functional analysis of novel NAC gene family candidates which may be applied for improvising stress adaption in plants.

Background: As preventing cancer with the help of a vaccine is a comparatively new concept, awareness and education about it will have important implication in the implementation of this strategy., Materials and Methods: Present explorative questionnaire based survey included 618 MBBS students for final analysis., Results: Majority of participants (89.6%) were well aware of the preventable nature of cervical cancer. Most of them (89.2%) knew that necessary factor responsible for cervical cancer is infection with high risk HPV. Awareness regarding the availability of vaccine against cervical cancer was 75.6%. Females had a better awareness regarding availability of vaccine, target population for vaccination and about the catch up program. Overall acceptance of HPV vaccine among the population studied was 67.8%. Medical teaching had a definitive impact on the understanding of this important public health issue. Females seemed to be more ready to accept the vaccine and recommend it to others. For our study population the most common source of information was medical school teaching. Majority of participants agreed that the most important obstacle in implementation of HPV vaccination program in our country is inadequate information and 86.2% wanted to be educated by experts in this regard., Conclusion: HPV vaccine for primary prevention of cervical cancer is a relatively new concept. Health professional will be able to play a pivotal role in popularizing this strategy.

Cervical ectopic thymus (CET), a common embryological anomaly detected incidentally at autopsy, is rarely described in clinical patients. Furthermore, aberrant cervical thymic tissue is an infrequently reported cause of paediatric neck masses. We report a 12-year-old female presenting with multinodular thyroid swelling since seven years of age. FNAC revealed adenomatous goitre with suspicious cystic papillary neoplastic foci, for which she underwent total thyroidectomy along with excision of a nodular swelling near the lower pole of the right thyroid lobe which was per-operatively suspected to be a lymph node. Histopathological examination revealed a follicular variant papillary carcinoma of the thyroid with background thyroiditis, and a nodule of ectopic thymic tissue. Though the presence of CET is rare, one should be aware of this entity, especially in children because it may be confused with lymph node metastasis which may lead to morbid radical neck dissection.

Background: Geohelminth infections are a major problem of children from the developing countries. Children with these infections suffer from developmental impairments and other serious illnesses. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of geohelminth infection, infection intensity as well as the change in the intensity in children from Western Nepal over years., Methods: This 6-year hospital based prospective study at the Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara included children (< 15 years) visiting the hospital from Kaski and 7 surrounding districts. Samples were also collected from children in the community from different medical camps. Three stool samples from every child were processed using direct and concentration methods. The Kato-Katz technique was used for measuring the intensity of infection., Results: The overall prevalence in hospital - attending children was 9.2% with 7.6% in preschool (0 - 5 y) and 11.0% in school-age (6 - 15 y) children, and in community 17.7% with 14.8% in pre-school and 20.5% in school-age children. Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Ancylostoma deodenale and Strongyloides stercoralis were the common geohelminths with a gradual decrease in worm load over the years. School-age children were found to be significantly more prone to geohelminth infection as compared to preschool children, but no statistical difference was detected by gender, district as well as season., Conclusion: This heavy infection of geohelminths in children should be corrected by appropriate medication and maintaining strict personal hygiene. Health education, clean water, good sewage management and a congenial environment should be ensured to minimise infection.

Objective: To report 3 cases of accidental dexmedetomidine overdose in the perioperative setting and review the pathophysiology of alpha2-agonist overdose. case summaries: Three patients accidentally received overdoses of dexmedetomidine, one intraoperatively (192 microg over 20 min) and 2 postoperatively (4 and 2 rather than 0.4 and 0.2 microg/kg/h; 0.5 microg/kg/min rather than 0.5 microg/kg/h). Hemodynamic parameters remained stable for all 3 patients. The most notable sign was oversedation diagnosed either clinically or using a bispectral index monitor; Naranjo criteria suggest possible or probable association of the reactions with dexmedetomidine. In all 3 cases, oversedation resolved within one hour of drug discontinuation. There were no other sequelae, and the remainder of each patient's hospital course was unremarkable., Discussion: As of this writing, dexmedetomidine dosing in excess of the label recommendation has been reported, but accidental dexmedetomidine overdose in clinical practice has not been described. Excessive levels of sedation were the only significant finding in all 3 patients. Dexmedetomidine's short redistribution half-life of 6 minutes should lead to rapid resolution of oversedation induced by overdoses if the overall duration of infusion is short (< or =8 h). While the patients reported here were hemodynamically stable, dexmedetomidine may engender significant hemodynamic changes either because of sympatholysis at normal doses or vasoconstriction at higher than recommended doses. The absence of a significant hypertensive response to high dexmedetomidine concentrations suggests that dexmedetomidine-induced hypertension may be multifactorial, not simply related to plasma drug concentrations., Conclusions: Practitioners presented with dexmedetomidine overdose should be prepared to manage oversedation. While hemodynamic alterations may be seen with dexmedetomidine use, hypertension from high dexmedetomidine plasma concentrations is not a consistent response. Practitioners using dexmedetomidine should carefully note that dosing for this agent is described by the manufacturer in microg/kg/h, not microg/kg/min.