Can we predict mutagen-induced damage in plant systems mathematically? Insights from zygotic embryo and haploid mutagenesis in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea)

ABSTRACT: Th is study was undertaken to determine the relationship between mutagen concentration, exposure duration and survival of zygotic embryos along with evaluation of microspore totipotency of the mutant donor plants of Brassica juncea. Th ree Indian genotypes were tested for varying mutagen concentrations (5-50 mM) and exposure durations (10-50 h) of three chemical mutagens, ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS), ethyl nitrosourea (ENU) and ethidium bromide (EtBr), to study the eff ect of mutagen exposure on zygotic embryos. Th e exposure to EtBr resulted in 100% mortality, however, the survival data for EMS/ ENU analyzed by orthogonal contrast partitioning ANOVA revealed that concentration for both mutagens had a linear relationship with percent survival while exposure duration had a non-linear relationship. Multiple regression analysis was used to develop prediction functions for EMS/ ENU treatment survival and the LD 50 for zygotic embryo mutagenesis for 20h duration ranged from 3.5mM for ENU to 6.8mM for EMS. Th is information was used to generate mutant donor plants for microspore culture and 48.8% EMS mutant donor plants produced 2.9 ± 0.4 embryos per Petri dish (total 943 embryos)

Collecting syndromic surveillance data by mobile phone in rural India: implementation and feasibility

Background: Infectious disease surveillance has long been a challenge for countries like India, where 75% of the health care services are private and consist of both formal and informal health care providers. Infectious disease surveillance data are regularly collected from governmental and qualified private facilities, but not from the informal sector. This study describes a mobile-based syndromic surveillance system and its application in a resource-limited setting, collecting data on patients’ symptoms from formal and informal health care providers. Design: The study includes three formal and six informal health care providers from two districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. Data collectors were posted in the clinics during the providers’ working hours and entered patient information and infectious disease symptoms on the mobile-based syndromic surveillance system. Results: Information on 20,424 patients was collected in the mobile-based surveillance system. The five most common (overlapping) symptoms were fever (48%), cough (38%), body ache (38%), headache (37%), and runny nose (22%). During the same time period, the government's disease surveillance program reported around 22,000 fever cases in one district as a whole. Our data – from a very small fraction of all health care providers – thus highlight an enormous underreporting in the official surveillance data, which we estimate here to capture less than 1% of the fever cases. Additionally, we found that patients from more than 600 villages visited the nine providers included in our study. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that a mobile-based system can be used for disease surveillance from formal and informal providers in resource-limited settings. People who have not used smartphones or even computers previously can, in a short timeframe, be trained to fill out surveillance forms and submit them from the device. Technology, including network connections, works sufficiently for disease surveillance applications in rural parts of India. The data collected may be used to better understand the health-seeking behaviour of those visiting informal providers, as they do not report through any official channels. We also show that the underreporting to the government can be enormous

Antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of <em>Roylea cinerea</em> extracts: a comparative study

611-621Roylea cinerea (D.Don) Baill. (Fam. Lamiaceae), commonly known as Ashy Royleais, and locally, kattu is widespread in the Himalaya from Kashmir to Nepal, and known for its antidiabetic activity. In this study, we evaluated the crude ethanolic extract and its sub-extracts obtained from the aerial part of R. Cinerea for antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by different chemical-based assays, viz. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azinobis (3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). The total phenolic content in R. cinerea extracts varied widely 3.87-95.3 mg GAEs/g of dry plant extract. Reduction in the blood glucose level was observed in albino male wistar rats after treatment for 15 days and the treatment with ethyl acetate extract showed highest reduction (41.13%) in blood glucose level. Serum lipid profile, hepatic glycogen content, SOD, GPx, GSH and TBARS of pancreatic tissue were also examined. The plant extract treatment increased the levels of SOD, GSH and GPx in the tissues and reduced the level of TBARS as compared to the control group. Histopathological studies showed that the treatment with plant extracts normalized the histology of pancreas and liver. These findings suggest that Roylea cinerea extracts has potent antidiabetic and antioxidant properties and thereby substantiate its use in traditional medicines

Effect of frequency and amplitude of FES pulses on muscle fatigue during toning of muscles

This study presents effects of frequency and amplitude of stimulation pulses on muscle contraction. The experiments are on a complete paraplegic patient with injury level between T4 and T5. Number of contraction episode before fatigue has been more for low frequency and low voltage stimulation

Development of Four Channel Programmable FES System using Multi-tap Transformers

Spinal cord injuries are predominantly prevalent among younger individuals (> 55% in 16-30 age group). Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is electrical stimulation of muscle deprived of nerves control, with a view of providing muscular contraction and providing a functionally useful movement. The paper reports on the development of a FES system using multi-tap transformers, and also usefulness of the system on a complete paraplegic patient with injury level T-4 to T-12

<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"> Development of four channel programmable FES system using multi-tap transformers </smarttagtype>

507-509 Spinal cord injuries are predominantly prevalent among younger individuals (> 55% in 16-30 age group). Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is electrical stimulation of muscle deprived of nerves control, with a view of providing muscular contraction and providing a functionally useful movement. The paper reports on the development of a FES system using multi-tap transformers, and also usefulness of the system on a complete paraplegic patient with injury level T-4 to T-12. </smarttagtype