Landraces and Crop Genetic Improvement

Landraces are repository of gene pool that enrich biodiversity and maintain and stabilize ecosystem in a sustainable way to make it functional. Cultivation of traditional crops in different regions of the world, aside maintaining biodiversity in agriculture, also avails humanity of regulatory services such as nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, control of soil erosion, reduction of greenhouse gas emission and control of hydrological processes. However, man through over-exploitation of some plant species with utter neglect to some other either deliberately or otherwise through modern agricultural systems that promote cultivation of a few high-input and high-yielding crop species caused disaffection to biodiversity with consequences of reduction in its regulatory services. In this chapter, different landraces of crops are examined, their usefulness in the maintenance of genetic diversity is explored, and implications of their depletion are discussed

Phytochemical, Antimicrobial and Bio-Active Component Analysis of Platycerium Superbum (L.) Methanolic Extract

Plants have been considered for several years to be a valuable source of compounds that can be active against the activity of many pathogenic organisms but lower plants are rarely considered useful in many cases. In this study, the phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial activity and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) analysis was carried out on P. superbum methanolic extract following standard procedures from earlier reports. The qualitative phytochemical screening result revealed the presence of important phytochemicals like tannin, saponin, alkaloid, flavonoid, protein, terpenoid, oxalate, glycoside, anthraquinone, and phytobiotin in the plant extract. Flavonoid has the highest quantity of 6.69mg/g while terpenoid has the lowest quantity of 0.66mg/g. The result of the antimicrobial activity of P. superbum revealed that the plant extract compared with some standard drugs like Ciprofloxacin, Streptomycin, Septrin and Gentamycin had significantly the same level of activity at certain concentrations while the extract showed greater potency against the test microbes at some other concentrations.The GC-MS analysis of the extract revealed the presence of essential bioactive compounds like Silanediol, Cyclohexanecarboxylic acid, Methyl ester, Cyclohexacarboxylic acid, Bicyclo [3.1.1] Heptane, Bicyclo [5.2.0] nonane, Methyl palmitate and 7– Octaecenoic which have been reportedly given some therapeutic and industrial credits

The surgical safety checklist and patient outcomes after surgery: a prospective observational cohort study, systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 British Journal of Anaesthesia Background: The surgical safety checklist is widely used to improve the quality of perioperative care. However, clinicians continue to debate the clinical effectiveness of this tool. Methods: Prospective analysis of data from the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), an international observational study of elective in-patient surgery, accompanied by a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. The exposure was surgical safety checklist use. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was postoperative complications. In the ISOS cohort, a multivariable multi-level generalized linear model was used to test associations. To further contextualise these findings, we included the results from the ISOS cohort in a meta-analysis. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 44 814 patients from 497 hospitals in 27 countries in the ISOS analysis. There were 40 245 (89.8%) patients exposed to the checklist, whilst 7508 (16.8%) sustained ≥1 postoperative complications and 207 (0.5%) died before hospital discharge. Checklist exposure was associated with reduced mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 (0.32–0.77); P\u3c0.01], but no difference in complication rates [OR 1.02 (0.88–1.19); P=0.75]. In a systematic review, we screened 3732 records and identified 11 eligible studies of 453 292 patients including the ISOS cohort. Checklist exposure was associated with both reduced postoperative mortality [OR 0.75 (0.62–0.92); P\u3c0.01; I2=87%] and reduced complication rates [OR 0.73 (0.61–0.88); P\u3c0.01; I2=89%). Conclusions: Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine

Prospective observational cohort study on grading the severity of postoperative complications in global surgery research

Background The Clavien–Dindo classification is perhaps the most widely used approach for reporting postoperative complications in clinical trials. This system classifies complication severity by the treatment provided. However, it is unclear whether the Clavien–Dindo system can be used internationally in studies across differing healthcare systems in high- (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods This was a secondary analysis of the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), a prospective observational cohort study of elective surgery in adults. Data collection occurred over a 7-day period. Severity of complications was graded using Clavien–Dindo and the simpler ISOS grading (mild, moderate or severe, based on guided investigator judgement). Severity grading was compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Data are presented as frequencies and ICC values (with 95 per cent c.i.). The analysis was stratified by income status of the country, comparing HICs with LMICs. Results A total of 44 814 patients were recruited from 474 hospitals in 27 countries (19 HICs and 8 LMICs). Some 7508 patients (16·8 per cent) experienced at least one postoperative complication, equivalent to 11 664 complications in total. Using the ISOS classification, 5504 of 11 664 complications (47·2 per cent) were graded as mild, 4244 (36·4 per cent) as moderate and 1916 (16·4 per cent) as severe. Using Clavien–Dindo, 6781 of 11 664 complications (58·1 per cent) were graded as I or II, 1740 (14·9 per cent) as III, 2408 (20·6 per cent) as IV and 735 (6·3 per cent) as V. Agreement between classification systems was poor overall (ICC 0·41, 95 per cent c.i. 0·20 to 0·55), and in LMICs (ICC 0·23, 0·05 to 0·38) and HICs (ICC 0·46, 0·25 to 0·59). Conclusion Caution is recommended when using a treatment approach to grade complications in global surgery studies, as this may introduce bias unintentionally

Critical care admission following elective surgery was not associated with survival benefit: prospective analysis of data from 27 countries

This was an investigator initiated study funded by Nestle Health Sciences through an unrestricted research grant, and by a National Institute for Health Research (UK) Professorship held by RP. The study was sponsored by Queen Mary University of London