Study on digestive tract contents of fish : Preliminary step for identification of indigenous species in mosquito larval control

The present study is based on screening of food preference by the indigenous fish under its natural condition. The gastrointestinal contents as an indicative of effective bioregulatory activity envisage the selection of a larvivorous fish. As many as 32 species of fishes were collected from their natural habitats at Imphal and Bishenpur districts in Manipur State between August 2007 to February 2008. Faecal drops of active fishes revealed remains of larvae / pupae of mosquitoes. However, the food types in 26 species of fish comprised larvae / pupae of mosquito, algae, weeds, tadepole fishes, crustaceans, insects, gastropods, worms and detritus / debris. On the basis of food preference Aplocheilus panchax, Polyacanthus fasciatus and Puntius manipurensis have been considered as most potent larvivorous fish of the study area

Wernicke’s encephalopathy in pregnancy

Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE) is a reversible neurological emergency which is a rare but known complication of hyperemesis gravidarum due to thiamine deficiency. Prolonged vomiting in pregnancy results in thiamine depletion. Most frequently Wernicke's encephalopathy is found among persons suffering from excessive drinking. Unusually it can also be seen in women presenting with hyperemesis gravidarum with pre-existing malnutrition, as avitaminosis can result from the acute malnutrition associated with prolonged pregnancy-related hyperemesis. The early recognition of its clinical signs and symptoms is essential to establish the suspected diagnosis and can be confirmed by MRI. Most patients present with the triad of ocular signs, ataxia, and confusion. It can be associated with life-threatening complication like central pontine myelinolysis. Here we stress upon the importance of early diagnosis and prompt treatment of WE. The aim of this report is to present cases of Wernicke's encephalopathy induced by hyperemesis gravidarum except one case which was acute in onset. The course of the disease, clinical signs, diagnostic tools, treatment and its results are presented

Inflammation and Medicinal Plants-An Ethnomedicinal Approach

There is an increasing demand for the medicinal plants in developing countries like India. Attention need to be given to assess the medicinal value of such plants to explore the potential drugs out of it. Inflammation is the condition associated with many of the disease states and this review elaborate the medicinal plants, their parts used in the effective management of Inflammation and its associated conditions. ÂÂ

Studies on Symptomatic Profiles of Dengue Fever (DF) vis- -vis Non-Dengue Fever (NDF) in District Dehradun, Uttarakhand

AbstractDengue is considered to be common in most tropical and subtropical regions. The unplanned development of Dehradun city along with increasing circumference of slum areas has resulted in proportional increase of dengue prevalence. Dengue detection by conducting molecular and virological tests is complex, tedious to perform, and is less feasible for routine laboratory practices. Hence, this study was sought to describe the clinical, laboratory and ultrasonic manifestation of dengue fever based on two year’s (2013 and 2014) record in order to classify the features between DF and NDF. Out of a total of 15,556 cases (8253 cases in 2013 and 7303 cases in 2014) of suspected dengue fever, 242 cases (122 in 2013 and 120 in 2014) were reported positive confirming 1.56% serologically by ELISA, which were classified as DF cases and rest as NDF cases. The significant features in DF cases were myalgia, body ache, nausea, retro-orbital pain, skin rash, leukopenia, ALT <50, splenomegaly and hepatomegaly.The sensitivity was found highest in myalgia (91.32%), followed by body ache (88.02%) and nausea (81.82%), whereas highest specificity was found in skin rash (97.56%), trailed by leukopenia (96.63%) and hepatomegaly (96.06%). These predictive values can help the clinician to be more confident that a patient lacking these features does have the disease because of high negative prediction values. Changing characteristics of the disease deserve serious research attention, especially in shifts in modal age, rural spread, social and biological determinants of race; and sex related susceptibility have major implications for health service planning and control strategies

Down memory lane

This is a tribute to all of you, the elders, who served CMFRI in various capacities in the past 60 years to make this institution a standing testimony to the devotion and dedication of the numerous scientists, technical and administrative staff who made this institution stand apart and shine amidst the best marine fisheries institutions in the world. Hats off to each one of you for what you have done for CMFRI, the fruits of which are here to stay. My personal gratitude to all of you for all the support and encouragement you have been giving me in the past seven years and I will always cherish the time I spent in CMFRI, contributing my small mite to the development of this premier institution. I had requested several of our former colleagues to write a few words about their memories in CMFRI. Many responded promptly, a few thought it was not worth writing. I thank you all for putting in so few words so much of feelings and emotions which truly reflect what CMFRI means to each one of you. And let me assure you all that each one of you mean so much for each one of us passing through the corridors of this great institution, reminding us that there are miles to go before we sleep, miles to go before we sleep

Evaluation of fungicides, biocontrol agents and botanicals for management of damping-off in cabbage seedlings caused by Fursarium moniliforme sheld

The antagonistic effect of 10 fungicides, four biocontrol agents and 10 locally available botanicals in controlling the growth and sporulation of Fusarium moniliforme in vitro were tested. A pot culture experiment was also conducted to study the effect of seed treatment and soil treatment alone or in combination on germination and seedling vigour of cabbage. In vitro evaluation of ten fungicides by poisoned food technique showed that all the fungicides efficiently inhibited complete inhibition of the linear growth of the fungus was observed with Thiophenate methyl, Carbendazim, Mancozeb, Difenconazole, Propiconazole, Hexaconazole, Sixer and Tricyclazole. Sporulation was completely inhibited by all the fungicides evaluated. In dual culture technique of the fungus and biocontrol agents, of the four biocontrol agents evaluated the antagonists, T. hamatum completely overgrew the pathogen, T. harzianum colonized on half of the growth of the pathogen, T. viride remained locked with the fungus at the point of contact and P. citrinum formed inhibition zone with the fungus. Sporulation was completely inhibited by all the four antagonists. Among the ten locally available botanicals tested by poisoned food technique in vitro, garlic extract showed maximum fungitoxic propertyfollowed wild sage (Lantana camara), onion (Allium cepa), neem (Azadirachta indica), goat weed (Ageratum conyzoides) and marigold (Tagetes erecta) . In pot culture experiment, the least disease incidence was recorded in soil treatment with carbendazim (26%) followed by T. harzianum (29%) and P. glabrum (29.7%). However,considering the various drawbacks and hazardous effects resulting from use of chemicals, biocontrol agents and plant extracts can be recommended to use in raising healthy seedlings free from pre- and post-emergence damping-off