Advances in Agricultural Biotechnology

Agricultural biotechnology is becoming the major sector in crop improvement through the use of scientific techniques for the modification of genes conferring resistance to biotic, abiotic stress and improving the quality of crops. With the evolvement from Mendelian genetics to molecular biotechnology, there have been several developments in the field of crop improvement. Recent biotechnological advances have aimed towards removing the physiological constraints of the crops and increasing crop yield potential. With the use of different tools of agricultural biotechnologies like genetic engineering, tissue culture, embryo rescue, somatic hybridization, molecular marker-assisted selection, genome doubling, and omics technologies, various transgenic crops have been developed over the decades and have been approved for commercialization. This development and adoption of transgenic technology have been shown to increase crop yields, reduce CO2 emission, reduce pesticide and insecticide use and decrease the costs of crop production.  Even though the biotechnological approach and transgenic organisms have immense potential to contribute to the world’s food security, several concerns of genetically modified crops being a threat to the environment and human health have developed. This review will address applications and concerns of biotechnology in crop improvement considering health hazards and ecological risks

A comparative study of the effect of peeling and drying on phytochemical and proximate composition of ginger varieties in Nepal

The handling and processing of ginger are done by farmers in Nepal by following primitive practices that result in poor and unhygienically processed ginger of low quality. Due to little information on the quality and compositional aspects of ginger and its value-added product (essential oil), there is a need to improve traditional methods of processing and drying for a better quality of ginger and its product. This study aimed to assess the effects of peeling and drying conditions on two local ginger varieties in Nepal. A three-factor Completely Randomized Design (CRD) experiment was laid out at Ginger Research Program, Kapurkot, Salyan, Nepal. Three treatment factors were variety (Bose ginger and Nase ginger varieties), peeling (peeled and unpeeled ginger), and drying methods (direct sun drying and oven drying). After drying ginger rhizomes, the dry recovery percentage was calculated and the dried ginger rhizomes were ground to powder and subjected to laboratory analysis, where essential oil content and proximate composition of ginger powder were evaluated. Then, the extracted essential oil was subjected to GC-MS (Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry) analysis to know the chemical composition of essential oil. The result obtained showed that unpeeled oven-dried gingers retained higher essential oil content (2 %). The moisture content of oven-dried peeled ginger was reduced to 10.49 % which is within the standard of 7-12 % acceptable to the international market unlike that of direct-sun drying which could only attain about 17% moisture content in the study area. Likewise higher dry recovery percentage (22.25%) was observed in unpeeled sun-dried gingers. Ether extract (5.05 %) and crude fiber (5.05 %) were higher in the Nase variety whereas nitrogen-free extract (75.51 %) was more efficient in Bose variety. From the GC-MS analysis of ginger oil, α-Zingiberene (16.61-21 %) was found to be a major chemical constituent of ginger essential oil followed by (E, E)-α-farnesene (8.68-10.99 %) and β-Sesquiphellandrene (8.26-10.23 %). The use of an oven to dry unpeeled ginger will improve the retention of essential oil; However, peeling of ginger showed reduced fiber content in the ginger

Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Tranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods: We did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124. Findings: Between July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98). Interpretation: We found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial

A rare combination injury of type III Monteggia fracture dislocation and ipsilateral epiphyseal fracture of distal radius in children. Is there a probability of missing the Monteggia component?

Combined type III Monteggia fracture dislocation and ipsilateral distal radial epiphyseal fracture is a very rare injury. Because of difficulty in performing the proper clinical evaluation of a child in an acute injury state, one of the components of this combined injury may be missed. We report a tenyear-old male child with this kind of injury where the Monteggia lesion was initially missed at the emergency department. Later we found the combined epiphyseal fracture of distal radius and Monteggia lesion in the ipsilateral side of the same limb which was managed by closed reduction and K-wire fixation. Bony union as well as wrist and elbow motion was complete 3 months after surgical intervention

Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

BackgroundTranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding.MethodsWe did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124.FindingsBetween July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98).InterpretationWe found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial.</div