AYURVEDIC UNDERSTANDING OF BIOMECHANICAL DYSFUNCTION OF ANKLE JOINT WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO GULPHA MARMA ABHIGHATHA

Marma sthana is the vital and most vulnerable point of the body. The prana or the life resides in it. Among the detailed and broad classification of Marma by Susruthacharya in his Sareerasthana, the Gulpha Marma is one among 20 Sandhi Marma (vital point related to joints) and one of the 8 Rujakara Marma according to its traumatic effect of pain. The Gulpha viz. ankle joint is located at the junction of Paada (foot) and Jankha (leg), the trauma in this region will leads to pain, restriction of movement, and limping. The ankle (talo-crural) joint is a uni-axial synovial joint, with primary movements of dorsi and plantar flexions. Ankle joint is one of the most frequently injured areas of the body since being the connecting link between stable leg bone and the mobile foot and subjected to great varieties of forces in walking, running, standing etc. If there is any trauma or injury at Gulpha Marma region that directly affect the (Gulpha Sandhi) ankle joint. The ligaments, tendons and bones have an important role in maintaining the stability of ankle joint and some clinical and pathological aspects of these are reviewed. Various traumas on ankle joint or Gulpha Marma leads to the biomechanical dysfunction of the joint.

Novel genetic loci associated with hippocampal volume

The hippocampal formation is a brain structure integrally involved in episodic memory, spatial navigation, cognition and stress responsiveness. Structural abnormalities in hippocampal volume and shape are found in several common neuropsychiatric disorders. To identify the genetic underpinnings of hippocampal structure here we perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 33,536 individuals and discover six independent loci significantly associated with hippocampal volume, four of them novel. Of the novel loci, three lie within genes (ASTN2, DPP4 and MAST4) and one is found 200 kb upstream of SHH. A hippocampal subfield analysis shows that a locus within the MSRB3 gene shows evidence of a localized effect along the dentate gyrus, subiculum, CA1 and fissure. Further, we show that genetic variants associated with decreased hippocampal volume are also associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (rg =-0.155). Our findings suggest novel biological pathways through which human genetic variation influences hippocampal volume and risk for neuropsychiatric illness

Prebiotic mannan oligosaccharide diet improves health status of the digestive system of marron, Cherax tenuimanus (Smith, 1912)

The aim of this experiment was to determine the effects of dietary supplementation with mannan oligosaccharide (MOS; BioMos, Alltech, USA) on the gut microbiota and histology of marron, Cherax tenuimanus. Marron were fed six different diets supplemented with 0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.8% of MOS for a duration of 112 days. Total bacteria in the gut were highest when marron were fed diets which included 0.1% to 0.4% BioMos, whereas total bacteria/Vibrio spp. ratio was highest in the marron fed 0.4% BioMos diet only. The marron fed 0.2% and 0.4% BioMos diets showed normal morphology and higher densities of microvilli, and thicker layer of gut epithelium than other inclusion rates. The results suggest that application of 0.2% to 0.4% of MOS in the diet improves digestive system health in marron

Suspension and Solution Plasma or HVOF Spraying

International audienceNanostructured materials offer significant improvements in engineering properties because their grain sizes are smaller than those of conventionally processed materials by a factor of almost 2 orders of magnitude (Ref 1). Since the mid- 1990s, research has been conducted using thermal spray technology for the deposition of finely structured or nanostructured coatings (Ref 2, 3). To produce finely structured coatings by thermal spray techniques, four routes have been suggeste