Knot Ready: Lessons From India on Delaying Marriage for Girls

Examines trends in and predictors of age at marriage. Assesses the effectiveness of ten program and policy interventions, underlying factors, and lessons for expanding viable strategies: empower girls, mobilize communities, and influence decision makers

Bioinformatics tools for development of fast and cost effective simple sequence repeat (SSR), and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) markers from expressed sequence tags (ESTs)

The development of current molecular biology techniques has led to the generation of huge amount of gene sequence information under the expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing projects on a large number of plant species. This has opened a new era in crop molecular breeding with identification and/or development of a new class of useful DNA markers called genic molecular markers (GMMs). These markers represent the functional component of the genome in contrast to all other random DNA markers (RMMs). Many recent studies have demonstrated that GMMs may be superior to RMMs for use in the marker assisted selection, comparative mapping and exploration of functional genetic diversity in the germplasms adapted to different environment. Therefore, identification of DNA sequences which can be used as markers remains fundamental to the development of GMMs. Amongst others; bioinformatics approaches are very useful for development of molecular markers, making their development much faster and cheaper. Already, a number of computer programs have been implemented that aim at identifying molecular markers from sequence data. A revision of current bioinformatics tools for development of genic molecular markers is, therefore, crucial in this phase. This mini-review mainly provides an overview of different bioinformatics tools available and its use in marker development with particular reference to SNP and SSR markers.Keywords: Genic molecular marker, simple sequence repeat (SSR), and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) markers from expressed sequence tags (ESTs).African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(30), pp. 4713-472

A chronic case of Madurella mycetoma involving left foot

Mycetoma is a localized chronic, suppurative, and deforming granulomatous disorder of subcutaneous tissue, skin and bones. Mycetoma is endemic in tropical and subtropical areas, where it is a real public health issue. It is a rare and neglected disease in our country. Etiological classification divides it into eumycetoma caused by fungus, and actinomycetoma caused by bacteria. Since the treatment of these two etiologies is completely different, a definite diagnosis after microbiological and histopathological examination, though difficult, is important. The disease is notoriously difficult to treat. Eumycetoma may be unresponsive to standard antifungal therapy. Authors report a case of eumycetoma in a 38 year-old male from Bihar, with history of thorn prick 30 yrs back. Madurella mycetomatis was isolated from the granular discharge from sinuses and itraconazole was given followed by surgical debridement of the lesion. The patient recovered well and is still on follow up

A survey and classification of publicly available COVID-19 datasets

The current study curates a list of authentic and open-access sources of alphanumeric COVID-19 pandemic data. We have gathered 74 datasets from 42 sources, including sources from 18 countries. The datasets are searched through the Kaggle and GitHub repositories besides Google, providing a representation of varieties of pandemic-related datasets. The datasets are categorized according to their sources- primary and secondary, and according to their geographical distribution. While analyzing the dataset, we came across some classes in which the datasets can be categorized. We present the categorization in the form of taxonomy and highlight the present COVID-19 data collection and use challenges. The study will help researchers and data curators in the identification and classification of pandemic data

A comparative study of intrathecal levobupivacaine-clonidine and bupivacaine in the quality of anesthesia for patients undergoing hernioplasty

Background: Bupivacaine is most commonly used amino-amide drug for subarachnoid block in hernioplasty. Levobupivacaine has similar pharmacological activity to that of bupivacaine with minimal cardiotoxicity. Clonidine, an α2 adrenergic agonist, potentiates the action of local anesthetics when used intrathecally and enhances post-operative analgesia. Aims and Objectives: This prospective, comparative, observational study was aimed to compare the effects of 0.5% levobupivacaine with clonidine and 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine in patients undergoing hernioplasty for the quality of surgical anesthesia and hemodynamic changes with any significant intraoperative complications. Materials and Methods: After receiving approval from the institutional ethics committee and written informed consent, 80 male patients aged between 18 and 60 years, BMI 150 cm, and American society of anesthesiologists physical status1 and 2 posted for elective hernioplasty were enrolled into two equal groups of 40 patients, group LC and group B. Patients in group LC received 15 mg 0.5% isobaric levobupivacaine with 30 μg clonidine and patients in group B received 15 mg hyperbaric bupivacaine intrathecally. SPSS version 20 was used for analysis, and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In group LC, onsets of both sensory and motor blocks were delayed, whereas durations of motor and sensory block with analgesia were longer. Tachycardia, hypotension, nausea, vomiting, and shivering were observed greater in numbers in group B, whereas incidence of bradycardia was more in group LC. Conclusion: Prolonged duration of sensory and motor block, prolonged analgesic effect, and hemodynamic stability without any significant adverse effects may make this combination a better alternative to hyperbaric bupivacaine for hernioplasty

Intimate partner violence against women during and after pregnancy: a cross-sectional study in Mumbai slums

"Intimate partner violence against women during maternity was unacceptably common in Mumbai’s slums. One in seven women suffered violence during or shortly after pregnancy. IPV begins in a culture that condones it – indeed, justifies it - and is abetted by poverty and alcohol use. The elements of the violent milieu are mutually reinforcing and need to be taken into account collectively in responding to both individual cases and framing public health initiatives.

Molecular cloning, expression and computational analysis of a water stress inducible copper-containing amine oxidase gene (CuAO) from tea plant [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze]

Copper-containing amine oxidase (CuAO) is the enzyme known to play diversity of function in plant responses to environmental stresses through its reaction products. Here, for the first time we report full length cDNA encoding CuAO protein from a drought tolerant tea cultivar. It was found to be 785 bp long with a 70 bp 5.-UTR, 193 bp 3.-UTR, 522 bp mORF and a polyA adenylational signal. It codes for a poly-peptide of 173 amino acids having predicted molecular weight and isoelectric point of 19 KDa and 7.75 respectively. Heterologous expression and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of the protein in Escherichia coli revealed similar size as predicted by in silico analysis. Blastp analysis and template based homology modeling in Phyre2 has identified a copper amine oxidase domain with ligand binding site for copper at residue 123 (Histidine) which suggests its probable role in plant responses to environmental stresses. Interestingly, no signal peptide sequence was detected in the predicted protein which is in contrast to the CuAO so far reported in plants. Although, in slico analysis of the protein have indicated its probable structure and functions, further functional characterization is needed to better understand its role during drought and other environmental stresses in tea.Key words: Camellia sinensis, copper amine oxidase, homology modeling, molecular cloning

Naturally Occurring Calanolides: Occurrence, Biosynthesis, and Pharmacological Properties Including Therapeutic Potential.

Calanolides are tetracyclic 4-substituted dipyranocoumarins. Calanolide A, isolated from the leaves and twigs of Calophyllum lanigerum var. austrocoriaceum (Whitmore) P. F. Stevens, is the first member of this group of compounds with anti-HIV-1 activity mediated by reverse transcriptase inhibition. Calanolides are classified pharmacologically as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI). There are at least 15 naturally occurring calanolides distributed mainly within the genus Calophyllum, but some of them are also present in the genus Clausena. Besides significant anti-HIV properties, which have been exploited towards potential development of new NNRTIs for anti-HIV therapy, calanolides have also been found to possess anticancer, antimicrobial and antiparasitic potential. This review article provides a comprehensive update on all aspects of naturally occurring calanolides, including their chemistry, natural occurrence, biosynthesis, pharmacological and toxicological aspects including mechanism of action and structure activity relationships, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic potentials and available patents

Reforms to Increase Teacher Effectiveness in Developing Countries: Systematic Review, September 2016

RLOsRLOsProvides high-quality evidence on reforms/interventions in education systems aimed at improving teacher effectiveness, at scale. This executive summary provides an overview of that key evidence to answer three review questions: RQ1. What is the evidence on the impacts of reforms/interventions of education systems, at scale, to increase teacher effectiveness on: the quality of teaching and on learning outcomes in low- and middle-income countries? RQ2. What is the evidence on the relationship between educational reforms/interventions for improving teacher effectiveness, at scale, and the quality of teaching and learning outcomes in low- and middle-income countries? RQ3. Where reforms/interventions to education systems to increase teacher effectiveness, at scale, have occurred, what is the evidence on how technical, financial and political barriers have been overcome?ESRC-DFI