Storm in a C-cup: A classic case of snowstorm appearance of the breast

Free silicone injection in breast though banned, is still practised in some countries by unscrupulous practitioners for breast augmentation. It is an entity which needs prompt identification and treatment. We hereby report a case of free silicone injection in breast highlighting the important role of imaging and classical mammographic and ultrasound appearance

Genital ambiguity: a cytogenetic evaluation of gender

Background: Genital ambiguity is a complex genetic disorder of sexual differentiation into male or female. The purpose of the present study is to correlate the sex of rearing with the genetic sex and to find out the prevalence of chromosomal anomalies in patients with ambiguous genitalia. The findings can help in proper diagnosis, genetic counselling, and the reassignment of sex, if necessary.  Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 22 patients from north Kerala, ranging in age from 17 days to 17 years, were included. All cases were subjected to the following: a detailed history, physical examination, evaluation of clinical data, and cytogenetic analysis. Based on the standard protocol, peripheral blood lymphocyte culture was done. Chromosomal analysis was carried out with the help of an automated karyotyping system after G-banding of chromosomes.Results: Out of the 22 patients with ambiguous genitalia, 12 patients were genetic females with karyotype 46, XX, and nine patients were genetic males with 46, XY karyotype. One was a rare variant of Klinefelter syndrome with karyotype 49, XXXXY. The most common diagnosis was congenital adrenal hyperplasia, followed by partial androgen insensitivity syndrome. Discrepancies between genetic sex and sex of rearing were noted in 27% of the cases.Conclusions: This study unfolds the variable etiology of ambiguous genitalia and emphasizes the importance of karyotyping in diagnosis, proper assignment of the sex, and appropriate management of patients with genital ambiguity.

Yeast functional screen to identify genetic determinants capable of conferring abiotic stress tolerance in Jatropha curcas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Environmentally inflicted stresses such as salinity and drought limit the plant productivity both in natural and agricultural system. Increasing emphasis has been directed to molecular breeding strategies to enhance the intrinsic ability of plant to survive stress conditions. Functional screens in microorganisms with heterologous genes are a rapid, effective and powerful tool to identify stress tolerant genes in plants. <it>Jatropha curcas </it>(Physic nut) has been identified as a potential source of biodiesel plant. In order to improve its productivity under stress conditions to benefit commercial plantations, we initiated prospecting of novel genes expressed during stress in <it>J. curcas </it>that can be utilized to enhance stress tolerance ability of plant.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To identify genes expressed during salt tolerance, cDNA expression libraries were constructed from salt-stressed roots of <it>J. curcas</it>, regulated under the control of the yeast <it>GAL1 </it>system. Using a replica based screening, twenty thousand yeast transformants were screened to identify transformants expressing heterologous gene sequences from <it>J. curcas </it>with enhanced ability to tolerate stress. From the screen we obtained 32 full length genes from <it>J. curcas </it>[GenBank accession numbers <ext-link ext-link-id="FJ489601" ext-link-type="gen">FJ489601</ext-link>-<ext-link ext-link-id="FJ489611" ext-link-type="gen">FJ489611</ext-link>, <ext-link ext-link-id="FJ619041" ext-link-type="gen">FJ619041</ext-link>-<ext-link ext-link-id="FJ619057" ext-link-type="gen">FJ619057</ext-link> and <ext-link ext-link-id="FJ623457" ext-link-type="gen">FJ623457</ext-link>-<ext-link ext-link-id="FJ623460" ext-link-type="gen">FJ623460</ext-link>] that can confer abiotic stress tolerance. As a part of this screen, we optimized conditions for salt stress in <it>J. curcas</it>, defined parameters for salt stress in yeast, as well as isolated three salt hypersensitive yeast strains <it>shs-2, shs-6 </it>and <it>shs-8 </it>generated through a process of random mutagenesis, and exhibited growth retardation beyond 750 mM NaCl. Further, we demonstrated complementation of the salt sensitive phenotypes in the <it>shs </it>mutants, and analyzed the expression patterns for selected <it>J. curcas </it>genes obtained from the screen in both leaf and root tissues after salt stress treatments.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The approach described in this report provides a rapid and universal assay system for large scale screening of genes for varied abiotic stress tolerance within a short span of time. Using this screening strategy we could isolate both genes with previously known function in stress tolerance as well as novel sequences with yet unknown function in salt stress tolerance from <it>J. curcas</it>. The isolated genes could be over-expressed using plant expression system to generate and evaluate transgenic plants for stress tolerance as well as be used as markers for breeding salt stress tolerance in plants.</p

BioEarth: Envisioning and developing a new regional earth system model to inform natural and agricultural resource management

As managers of agricultural and natural resources are confronted with uncertainties in global change impacts, the complexities associated with the interconnected cycling of nitrogen, carbon, and water present daunting management challenges. Existing models provide detailed information on specific sub-systems (e.g., land, air, water, and economics). An increasing awareness of the unintended consequences of management decisions resulting from interconnectedness of these sub-systems, however, necessitates coupled regional earth system models (EaSMs). Decision makers’ needs and priorities can be integrated into the model design and development processes to enhance decision-making relevance and “usability” of EaSMs. BioEarth is a research initiative currently under development with a focus on the U.S. Pacific Northwest region that explores the coupling of multiple stand-alone EaSMs to generate usable information for resource decision-making. Direct engagement between model developers and non-academic stakeholders involved in resource and environmental management decisions throughout the model development process is a critical component of this effort. BioEarth utilizes a bottom-up approach for its land surface model that preserves fine spatial-scale sensitivities and lateral hydrologic connectivity, which makes it unique among many regional EaSMs. This paper describes the BioEarth initiative and highlights opportunities and challenges associated with coupling multiple stand-alone models to generate usable information for agricultural and natural resource decision-making

Essays on Child Labor and Agricultural Decision-making in Response to Natural Disasters and Climate Change

This dissertation consists of three papers.In India, Ethiopia and Vietnam, rural households face a choice between allocating a child’s time between education, household chores, farm wage labor, non-agricultural wage labor, working on the family farm, or on producing handicrafts and services within the household enterprise. Droughts alter the child’s marginal value of time between these activities by affecting the productivity of agrarian economic activities and opportunity cost of school attendance. The first paper studies the impact of droughts on rural child labor. First, a theoretical model was developed to provide the underlying intuition. Next, the relationship between the incidence, frequency and scale of droughts on participation in rural child labor (Extensive Margin Analysis) and hours devoted to specific child labor activities (Intensive Margin Analysis) was empirically studied using the Young Lives dataset for children in rural India, Ethiopia and Vietnam.Urban households depend largely on non-agrarian economic activities and are less vulnerable to droughts. But damaged capital, infrastructure and schools, due to floods, cyclones, tornadoes or hurricanes, influence the allocation of an urban child’s time between schooling and child labor activities. The second paper studies this impact of floods, cyclones, tornadoes and hurricanes on urban child labor in India, Ethiopia and Vietnam. In particular, this paper studied the relationship between the incidence, frequency and scale of cyclones, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods on participation in urban child labor (Extensive Margin Analysis) and hours devoted to specific urban child labor activities (Intensive Margin Analysis).The third paper details the development of crop-yield response curves for a BioEarth hydro-economic optimization model for the Yakima River Basin. The Leontief, piecewise linear and polynomial specifications for crop-yield functions were reviewed. Next, raw crop data from VIC-CropSyst process-based model was modified and selecting the relevant criteria, the specification that best fits the crop data was determined. Finally, the results show that for most crops and irrigation districts, the piecewise linear specification provides a better fit to the VIC-CropSyst crop growth data. Since the non-linear nature of this specification may cause computational difficulties in the optimization model, a polynomial specification is recommended

Younger hypertensive patients are more likely to have activated MyChart accounts

Background: National epidemiological studies note that young adults, those under 39 years old, tend to have less awareness of their hypertension (HTN) diagnosis and are less likely than older adults to have their blood pressure under control. Proposed barriers to hypertension control in young adults include provider reluctance to diagnose hypertension, hesitancy to prescribe antihypertensives, less access to primary medical care, and patient perceptions of their health status. HTN, as a silent disease, has major long-term consequences on cardiovascular health. Identifying HTN patients by age and seeking to control it is an important role for primary care. Purpose: To determine if the percentage of patients with diagnosed uncontrolled HTN who have signed up for MyAurora differs by age (18–49 years, ≥50 years) and if patients on MyAurora were more likely to have controlled their HTN. Methods: Data were abstracted from electronic health records, using the BI Launch Pad (the data warehouse for Aurora Quality Improvement), for HTN by age, blood pressure control status, and MyAurora account activation. Data were reviewed by each of two family medicine residency clinic and then aggregated across the two clinics using descriptive statistics. Results: At one residency clinic, 29% (46 of 156) of 18–49-yearold adults had uncontrolled HTN; at the second clinic, 31% (43 of 139) of the same-aged patients had uncontrolled HTN. Rate of adults ≥50 years old who had uncontrolled HTN was 18% (144 of 816) and 23% (85 of 364), by respective clinic. When comparing account activation for MyAurora across our two clinics, we found 49% of patients 18–49 years old with diagnosed HTN had signed up while only 27% of patients ≥50 years old with diagnosed HTN had activated their accounts. Across our two clinics, across all ages, Supplement www.aah.org/jpcrr 367 hypertensive patients who had signed up for MyAurora were 2.3% more likely to have blood pressure control; however, in the younger adult hypertensive population, patients signed up for MyAurora were 8.1% more likely to have controlled blood pressure compared to their unenrolled peers. Conclusion: Consistent with the literature, the percentage of patients with uncontrolled hypertension decreases with age in our primary care clinics. Younger hypertensive patients (18–49 years of age) were more likely to sign up for MyAurora. Higher MyAurora utilization rates for this age group points to its potential use as an intervention for improving blood pressure control in these hypertensive adults