The role of Botanic Gardens in the Conservation of Wild and Native Flora

The present study highlights the role of botanic gardens in the conservation of wild and native floristic elements. It is observed that, there is a total of 33 species of plants belonging to 26 families and 28 genera. Out of 33 species, 19-species are conserved asex-situ and 14-species by in-situ methods

Care seeking behaviour for childhood illness- a questionnaire survey in western Nepal

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization estimates that seeking prompt and appropriate care could reduce child deaths due to acute respiratory infections by 20%. The purpose of our study was to assess care seeking behaviour of the mothers during childhood illness and to determine the predictors of mother's care seeking behaviour. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the immunization clinics of Pokhara city, Kaski district, western Nepal. A trained health worker interviewed the mothers of children suffering from illness during the preceding 15 days. RESULTS: A total of 292 mothers were interviewed. Pharmacies (46.2%) were the most common facilities where care was sought followed by allopathic medical practitioners (26.4%). No care was sought for 8 (2.7%) children and 26 (8.9%) children received traditional/home remedies. 'Appropriate', 'prompt' and 'appropriate and prompt' care was sought by 77 (26.4%), 166 (56.8%) and 33 (11.3%) mothers respectively. The mothers were aware of fever (51%), child becoming sicker (45.2%) and drinking poorly (42.5%) as the danger signs of childhood illness. By multiple logistic regression analysis total family income, number of symptoms, mothers' education and perceived severity of illness were the predictors of care seeking behaviour. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study show that the mothers were more likely to seek care when they perceived the illness as 'serious'. Poor maternal knowledge of danger signs of childhood illness warrants the need for a complementary introduction of community-based Integrated Management of Childhood Illness programmes to improve family's care seeking behaviour and their ability to recognize danger signs of childhood illness. Socioeconomic development of the urban poor may overcome their financial constraints to seek 'appropriate' and 'prompt' care during the childhood illness

International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

RNA-Dependent Intergenerational Inheritance of Enhanced Synaptic Plasticity after Environmental Enrichment

Summary: Physical exercise in combination with cognitive training is known to enhance synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory and lower the risk for various complex diseases including Alzheimer’s disease. Here, we show that exposure of adult male mice to an environmental enrichment paradigm leads to enhancement of synaptic plasticity and cognition also in the next generation. We show that this effect is mediated through sperm RNA and especially miRs 212/132. In conclusion, our study reports intergenerational inheritance of an acquired cognitive benefit and points to specific miRs as candidates mechanistically involved in this type of transmission. : Environmental enrichment (EE), a combination of physical and mental exercise, has been shown to increase cognitive abilities in mice and in humans. Benito et al. find that offspring of male mice subjected to EE also show this increase. This effect is dependent on sperm RNA and involves microRNA212/132. Keywords: epigenetics, brain, microRNA, memory, intergenerational, transgenerational, exercise, environmental enrichment, cognitio

Long-term depression is differentially expressed in distinct lamina of hippocampal CA1 dendrites

Information storage in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal neurons is compartmentalized in proximal vs. distal apical dendrites, cell bodies, and basal dendrites. This compartmentalization is thought to be essential for synaptic integration. Differences in the expression of long-term potentiation (LTP) in each of these compartments have been described, but less is known regarding potential differences in long-term depression (LTD). Here, to directly compare LTD expression in each compartment and to bypass possible differences in input-specificity and stimulation of presynaptic inputs, we used global application of NMDA to induce LTD. We then examined LTD expression in each dendritic sub-region—proximal and distal apical, and basal dendrites—and in cell bodies. Interestingly, we found that distal apical dendrites exhibited the greatest magnitude of LTD of all areas tested and this LTD was maintained, whereas LTD in proximal apical dendrites was not maintained. In basal dendrites, LTD was also maintained, but the magnitude of LTD was less than in distal apical dendrites. Blockade of inhibition blocked LTD maintenance in both distal apical and basal dendrites. Population spikes recorded from the cell body layer correlated with apical dendrite field EPSP (fEPSP), where LTD was maintained in distal dendrites and decayed in proximal dendrites. On the other hand, LTD of basal dendrite fEPSPs was maintained but population spike responses were not. Thus E-S coupling was distinct in basal and apical dendrites. Our data demonstrate cell autonomous differential information processing in somas and dendritic sub-regions of CA1 pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus, where LTD expression is intrinsic to distinct dendritic regions, and does not depend on the nature of stimulation and input specificity.peerReviewe

BDNF enhances spontaneous and activity-dependent neurotransmitter release at excitatory terminals but not at inhibitory terminals in hippocampal neurons.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is widely reported to enhance synaptic vesicle (SV) exocytosis and neurotransmitter release. But it is still unclear whether BDNF enhances SV recycling at excitatory terminals only, or at both excitatory and inhibitory terminals. In the present study, in a direct comparison using cultured rat hippocampal neurons, we demonstrate that BDNF enhances both spontaneous and activity-dependent neurotransmitter release from excitatory terminals, but not from inhibitory terminals. BDNF treatment for 5 min or 48 h increased both spontaneous and activity-induced anti-synaptotagmin1 (SYT1) antibody uptake at excitatory terminals marked with vGluT1. Conversely, BDNF treatment did not enhance spontaneous or activity-induced uptake of anti-SYT1 antibodies in inhibitory terminals marked with vGAT. Time-lapse imaging of FM1-43 dye destaining in excitatory and inhibitory terminals visualized by post-hoc immunostaining of vGluT1 and vGAT also showed the same result: The rate of spontaneous and activity-induced destaining was increased by BDNF at excitatory synapses, but not at inhibitory synapses. These data demonstrate that BDNF enhances SV exocytosis in excitatory but not inhibitory terminals. Moreover, BDNF enhanced evoked SV exocytosis, even if vesicles were loaded under spontaneous vesicle recycling conditions. Thus, BDNF enhances both spontaneous and activity-dependent neurotransmitter release on both short and long time-scales, by the same mechanism.peerReviewe